ENGINEERING EDUCATION IN INDIA, AND ANDHRA PRADESH

Chapter -1 ENGINEERING EDUCATION IN INDIA, AND ANDHRA PRADESH 1. Introduction Engineering is an application of science which is used by human beings for enhancing efficiency and productivity of their economic affairs1. Engineers need to have in-depth understanding of basic technologies as well as recent developments in the area of technology to cope with the accelerated pace of technological advances. The core of all national developmental efforts is the intensive application of science and technology to increase agricultural and industrial productivity. It is also recognized that the mere availability of science and technology will not guarantee that economic development will occur automatically. If science and technology are to contribute towards national development, then special talents must be developed in the people2. The most important investment any country can make, whatever its stage of economic development, is in its human resources, in the education and training of its people. Both technology and education are critical ingredients for the occurrence of economic growth and it leads to national development While technology influences the level of exploitation of natural resources and capital utilization, education is basically concerned with human resources development. Growing population cannot be fed properly unless technology of food production and distribution is improved continuously. People cannot be provided comfortable living and working conditions without extensive use of technology in exploiting our material and energy resources. Educated people constitute an essential pre-requisite to national development. They can become useful human resources, only when they are placed within suitably designed 1 Seema Singh., Designing Economics Course for Indian Engineering Education System", University news, Vol.43, No.39,2005, Sep. - Oct., P.l 11. 2 Natarajan R., Technical Education current status and future directions; Vol.l, ICFAI University Press, Hyderabad, 2005, P.l 11. 1

institutional framework, functioning in favourable working conditions. To create this institutional framework, Central and State Governments have started promoting Engineering Colleges on their cwn. In the last quarter of the 20th century, considering the increased requirement of technically educated manpower, both Central and State Governments started permitting self financed Engineering Colleges. This has lead to phenomenal growth of Technical Education in our country. The other factors contributing to the growth of Technical Education in our country are the need for high-level technical manpower for industrial development and the desire to attain self-reliance in the training of Scientists and Engineers. 2. Role of Central Government: The Central Government is promoting Engineering Education in India in three ways. 1. By promoring IITs (Indian Institute of Technology) at National level. 2. By promoting RECs (Regional Engineering Colleges) presently known as NITs (National Institute of Technology) at State level. 3. By establishing AICTE which is playing a major role in the promotion of Engineering Education in India. 2.1 Promotion of HTs: The Central Government identified the need for technically qualified persons in sufficient numbers for the growth of Industries by mid 20th Century. It started promoting HTs in 1950 with the establishment of the first ITT in Kharagpur. The second ITT was established in 1958 in Bombay, the third in Chennai in 1959, the fourth in Kanpoor in 1960, the fifth in Delhi in 1961 and the sixth in Guwahati in 1995 and the seventh ITT was established in 2001 in Roorke by upgrading an NTT. The Central Government promised to establish the eighth IIT near Hyderabad in 2006 and admissions will commence from the academic year 2008-09. The first five HTs had the benefit of assistance and partnership from foreign countries i.e. ITT Kharagpur- UNESCO, ITT Bombay - USSR, IIT Chennai-Federal Republic of Germany, HT Kanpur-USA, HT Delhi-UK. 2

These HTs axe playing a predominant role in promoting technical education at Graduate and Post Graduate levels in India. These institutions are pioneers in the field of Technological, Scientific education. Research and Consultancy services. These institutions have become role models for other engineering colleges in India. 2.2 Establishment of RECs (Regional Engineering Colleges): The promotion of Regional Engineering Colleges by the Central Government in each major state was started as a joint and effort enterprise between the central and the relevant state Governments. The first REC was started in Warangal in Andhra Pradesh in the year 1959, followed by six others in 1960 four more in 1961and two in 1963 and one each in the years 1964, 67, 86 and 88 making their strength seventeen. These institutions are converted as National Institutes of Technologies (NTTs) and are fully funded institutes of the Central government from the year 2002. The Bihar Engineering College located at Patna has also been added to the family of NITs raising their strength to 18. 2.3 Establishment of AICTE for the development and monitoring of Technical Education: All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) was set-up in November 1945 as a national level apex advisory body to conduct survey the facilities of technical education and to promote its development in the country in a coordinated and integrated manner. And to ensure the same, as stipulated in the National Policy of Education (1986), AICTE was vested with statutory authority for planning, formulation and maintenance of norms and standards, quality assurance through accreditation, funding in priority areas, monitoring and evaluation, maintaining parity of certification and awards, ensuring coordinated and integrated development and management of technical education in the country3. The statutory organization AICTE was established in Delhi on May 12, 1988 with a view to proper planning and coordinated development of technical education system throughout the country, the promotion of qualitative improvement of such education in relation to planned quantitative growth and the regulation and proper maintenance of norms and standards in the technical education system and for matters connected therewith. 3 www.aicte.emetin 3

The purview of AICTE (the Council) covers programs of technical education including training and research in Engineering, Technology, Architecture, Town Planning, Management, Pharmacy, Applied Arts and Crafts, Hotel Management and Catering Technology etc. at different levels. 3. Growth of Engineering Education in India; Technical education in India contributes a major share to the overall education system and plays a vital role in the social and economic development of our nation. In India, technical education is imparted at various levels such as craftsmanship, diploma, degree, post-graduation and research in specialized fields catering to various aspects of technological development and economic progress. The industrial revolution of thels* century laid the foundation of technological civilization and gave rise to a new system of learning process which is known as Technical education. The technical education system brought out the concept of establishment of training institutions in order to meet the challenges of fast changing technological environment. A historical account of the development of engineering education in India in different ages will help us to appreciate and understand the various aspects of educational developments as also the present problems. The historical account can broadly be divided in to pre independence era and post independence era. 3.1 Pre-independence era: The foundation for Technical education is laid in India almost at the same time as in Europe but its growth was stunted till India became independent. In 1794 the English traders established a survey school in Madras to train Indian personnel in modem land survey and to assist the British surveyors. In 1842, an industrial school was established at Guindy, Chennai, which was attached to the gun carriage factory Chennai. Another school was established in Pune in 1854 for training overseas students. 4

The first engineering college is Thomson Civil Engineering College; Roorke was established in 1847 by the provincial Government to supply manpower needed for Public works and Survey departments of the government of India. The Bengal Engineering College was the second Engineering College started during the year 1856. In the year 1887, the third one, Veera Matha Jijiya Bai Technological Institute was established in Maharastra. In 1908 the fourth engineering college in Jadhavapur in West Bengal was established with a diploma course in Mechanical engineering which was followed by a chemical engineering course in 1921. In the year 1909, Sir Jamshedji Tata, an industrialist, established Indian Institute of Science (HSc) in Bangalore with a certificate and an associateship course at the degree level in Electrical Engineering, and for extending Engineering Education to higher studies and research work. The establishment of HSc is a milestone in Engineering Education. In 1917, Banaras Hindu University Banaras, started a comprehensive degree course in Electrical and Mechanical engineering. In 1936-37 a two member team of British experts advised the government on major reform in the technical education system, based on which, the model institution called Delhi Polytechnic, was started in Delhi, which was later renamed as Delhi College of Engineering. hi 1944, the Government of India stated a department of planning and development. Thus it is in 1944 that the foundation of a planned development of technical education training and research was laid. The result was the establishment of Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) in the year 1945. During 1909 to 1947, around 30 engineering colleges were established in different States to provide engineering education in the areas of Civil, Mechanical and Electrical engineering. Karnataka was the first state to allow private engineering colleges way back in 1946. 3.2 Post Independence era: The birth of AICTE gave a new dimension to engineering education in India and it started with the appointment of a committee in 1945 under the chairmanship of Sri N. R. Sarkar committee, which recommended the establishment of four higher technical institutes in the pattern of MTT, USA to meet India s post war need for high grade engineers and technologists. Accordingly, the Government of India has established the Indian Institute of Technology and 5

National Institute technology at various places.. Table no. 1.1 gives the chronological growth of engineering colleges in India from 1794 to April 2007. Table No. 1.1 Chronological Growth of Engineering Colleges in India Period No. of Engineering CoUeges Established 1794-1853 1 1854-1887 2 1888-1909 2 1910-1947 30 1948-1958 34 1959-1968 25 1969-1977 11 1978-1983 34 1984-1988 86 1989-1994 76 1995-2000 361 2001-2005 657 2006-2007 156 Source : Based on the Handbook on Engineering Education - Association of Indian Universities - l(fh edition -August 2002 and website www.aicte.emet.in. The total number of engineering colleges by the April 2007 reached to 1525 with a total intake of 5,20,891 students as per AICTE4. Several engineering colleges were conferred deemed university status. Many private universities have become operational imparting technical education through legislation of various governments. In several states, technical institutions were brought under the purview of the new technological universities. Besides, some universities are also offering the degree-engineering course through distance education mode5. Table No. 1.2 furnishes the region wise and state wise number of engineering colleges with their intake of students. 4 www.aicte.emet.in 5 M. Anandakrishnan, New directions for technical education in the context of globalization the Indian Journal of Technical Education, Vol. 30, No. 1,2007, Jan-March. 6

Table No. 1.2 State wise Number of Engineering Colleges with their Intake during academic year 2006-07. Region State/Union Territory ENGINEERING NOI Intake Central 1. Madhya Pradesh 85 32654 2. Chhattisgarh 15 5302 3. Gujarat 43 15915 Total---- > 143 53871 Eastern 1. Mizoram 0 0 2. Sikkim 1 498 3. West Bengal 62 18975 4. Tripura 2 286 5. Meghalaya 1 240 6. Anmachal Pradesh 1 264 7. Andaman&Nicobar 0 0 8. Assam 6 1150 9. Manipur 1 115 10. Nagaland 0 0 11. Orissa 48 15982 12. Jharkhand 10 3733 Total---- > 132 41253 North 1. Bihar 9 2122 2. Uttar Pradesh 118. 41487 3. Uttranchal 14 4321 Total---- > 141 47930 North-West 1. Chandigarh 6 788 2. Haryana 46 17287 3. Himachal Pradesh 6 1512 4. Jammu& Kashmir 6 1821 5. New Delhi 16 6769 6. Punjab 47 18192 7. Rajasthan 49 18667 Total > 176 65038 Sonth 1. Andhra Pradesh 281 91716 2. Pondicherry 5 2534 3. Tamil Nadu 254 102325 Total---- > 540 218381 South-West 1. Karnataka 126 55541 2. Kerala 94 28985 Total---- > 220 84526 West 1. Maharashtra 170 57750 2. Goa 3 744 3.Daman & DJ3adar,N.H. 0 0 Total---- > 173 58494 Grand Total 1525 520891 Source: M. Ananda Krishnan New Directions for Technical Education in The Context of Globalization The Indian Journal of Technical Education Vol.30No.I, 2007 Jan-March,p.ll. 7

From the above table we can observe that the maximum numbers of engineering colleges are in South, in the South-West region and in Maharastra. These states are having 847 engineering colleges with a total intake of2,67,097 students. 4. Growth of engineering education in Andhra Pradesh: The first engineering college in A.P. is Osmania University (O.U.) College of engineering established in the year 1929 and the second college is O.U. College of Technology established in the year 1943 by Osmania University. Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) established two more engineering colleges in 1946 in Ananthapur and in Kakinada. The fifth one is Kakatiya University (KU) College of engineering established in Kothagudem in the year 1956. The sixth engineering college was established by Andhra University in Visakhapatnam in the year 1956. S V College of Engineering is the seventh one established by Sri Venkateswara University in Tirupati in the year 1958. The eighth engineering college was established by JNTU in Hyderabad in the year 1965. The ninth college in A.P. was the first private engineering college by named V. R. Sidhardha College of Engineering (VRSE) in Vijayawada established in the year 1977. Three more private engineering colleges, Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, Vasavi Engineering College, Hyderabad and N B K R Institute of Science and Technology at Vidyanagar, near Nellore were established in the year 1979. The growth of private engineering colleges picked up in the year 1980 & in this year itself six colleges were established. From then onwards two colleges each in the year 1981 & 1984 and one college each in the year 1985, 1986 and 1989 were established. Then after a gap of six years four more colleges were established in the year 1995 and three colleges in the year 1996. The growth of engineering colleges from 1997 to 2006 is substantial because of the boom jn the software sector. The state government and AICTE opened the floodgates for private engineering colleges from 1997. The total number of engineering colleges in A.P. reached 281 with a total intake of 91,716 by April 20076. The table 1.3 furnishes the chronological growth of engineering colleges in Andhra Pradesh. 6 M. Ananda Krishnan "New Directions for Technical Education in The Context of Globalization " The Indian Journal of Technical Education Vol.30 No. 1,2007 Jan-March,p. 11. 8

Table No. 1.3 Chronological growth of Engineering Colleges in Andhra Pradesh up to April 2007. Period No. of Engineering Colleges Established 1929-1940 01 1941-1950 03 1951-1960 03 1961-1970 01 1971-1980 10 1981-1990 07 1991-1996 07 1997 22 1998 29 1999 15 2000 04 2001 77 2002 39 2003 09 2004 17 2005 19 2006 06 2007 12 Total 281 Source : Based on the handbook on List of Engineering Colleges, Courses and intakes and Last ranks of candidates admitted in engineering colleges in A.P during the academic year 2005-06" published by AP State Council of Higher Education Hyderabad and updated information 9

Fig. 1.1 Bar Chart showing year wise growth of engineering colleges in Andhra Pradesh. b j 0 2 'asr W! sr 1 TO M n e 5 f S' TO 1 6 %» E3 f M l tasr 3 * 3Q * 8 sr o < S Number 8 g of 6 institutions 8 8 3 8 8 fbto «, BA I 10

Table 1.4 District wise number of Engineering Institutions in A.P. with their intake of students up to April 2007. SI. No Name of the district Number of Engineering colleges Intake of students in No. % contribution to number of colleges % contribution to number of students 1. Srikakulam 03 1170 1.07 1.28 2. Adilabad 04 900 1.42 0.98 3. Mahaboobnagar 05 1950 1.78 2.13 4. Kurnool 05 2025 1.78 2.21 5. Vizianagaram 06 2175 2.14 2.37 6. Kadapa 06 2310 2.14 2.52 7. Nizambad 07 1830 2.49 2.00 8. Anantapur 07 1495 2.49 1.63 9. Khammam 09 2391 3.20 2.61 10. West Godavari 09 3540 3.20 3.86 11. Guntur 16 6600 5.69 7.20 12. Prakasam 09 3170 3.20 3.46 13. Warangal 12 3825 4.27 4.17 14. Karimnagar 11 4030 3.91 4.39 15. Krishna 10 3790 3.56 4.13 16. Medak 11 3520 3.91 3.84 17. Visakhapatnam 11 4565 3.91 4.98 18. Chittor 11 3155 3.91 3.44 19. Nellore 11 3360 3.91 3.66 20. Hyderabad 12 3975 4.27 4.33 21. East Godavari 12 3660 4,27 3.99 22. Nalgonda 16 5290 5.69 5.77 23. Rangareddy 78 24635 27.76 26.86 24. Total Number 281 91716 100.00 100.00 From the above table we can observe that there are 94 engineering colleges with an intake of 29925 students in Rangareddy and Hyderabad districts, contributing to 33% of total engineering colleges and intake of students in A.P. The concentrations of engineering colleges are more near the cities, towns and district headquarters. There are more number of engineering colleges in the districts where higher literacy rate and economic progress are present 11

Fig. 1.3 Pie chart showing district wise percentage distribution of engineering colleges in Andhra Pradesh {OSrikakulam Mahaboobnagar Vizianagar Nizambad Khammam Guntur BWarangal H Krishna Visakhapatnam Neilore 0 East Godavari KAdilabad Kumool Kadapa Anantapur H West Godavar Prakasam Karimnagar fl Medak Chittor Hyderabad Nalgonda Ranaareddv 12

Fig. 1.4 Pie chart showing district wise percentage distribution of intake of students in engineering colleges in Andhra Pradesh Srikakulam EHAdilabad Mahaboobnagar Kurnool BVizianagar Nizambad Khammam Guntur Warangal Krishna HVisakhapatnam Nellore East Godavari Kadapa Anantapur BWest Godavai Prakasam Karimnagar Medak Chittor Hyderabad Naigonda Rangareddy 13

Table 1.5 Nature and number of institutions with their intake of students in A.P. SI. No Nature of College Number of Colleges Intake of students % contribution to number of colleges % contribution to number of students 1. Government 10 2500 3.73 2.81 Coeducation 2. Government Women 01 240 0.37 0.27 3. Private Engineering 201 67980 70.26 73.28 Coeducation 4. Private Engineering 05 1770 1.86 1.99 Women 5. Private Muslim 35 9795 13.01 11.03 Minority Coeducation 6. Private Muslim 02 405 0.74 0.46 Minority Women 7. Private Christian 25 8306 9.29 9.35 Minority Coeducation 8. Private linguistic 01 420 0.37 0.47 Minority 9. Private Sikh Minority 01 300 0.37 0.34 Total 281 91716 100 100 Fig. 1.5 Pie chart showing Nature and No. of Institutions in each category in A.P. 1 Government Coeducation Government Women Private Engineering Coeducation Private Engineering Women Private Muslim Minority Coeducation Private Muslim Minority Women Private Christian Minority Coeducation Private linguistic Minority Private Sikh Minority 14

Table. 1.6 Course Details in the Descending order offered by number of colleges in A.P. SI. No Course Name Course No. of Colleges Code offered 1. Electronics & Communication Engineering ECE 278 2. Computer Science Engineering CSE 277 3. Electrical & Electronics Engineering EEE 260 4. Information Technology INF 193 5. Mechanical Engineering MEC 180 6. Civil Engineering CIV 54 7. Electronics & Instrumentation Engineering EIE 47 8. Bio-Technology BIO 29 9. Chemical Engineering CHE 25 10. Instrumentation & Control Engineering ICE 18 11. Production / Industrial Production Engineering IPE 15 12. Bio-Medical Engineering BME 13 13. Applied Electronics & Instrumentation Engineering AEI 11 14. Instrumentation Technology 1ST 07 15. Aeronautical Engineering ANE 04 16. Electronics & Computer Engineering ECM 03 17. Metallurgical Engineering MET 02 Fig. 1.6 Bar chart showing the total number of colleges offering a particular branch of engineering in A.P COURSE DETAILS No. of colleges offered CQ 0 4 C*d t - t- 15

The table 1.6 and bar chart 1.6 reveals that the Electronics & Communication Engineering, Computer Science Engineering, Electrical & Electronics Engineering are more popular courses offered in more than 95% of the colleges. The Information Technology and Mechanical Engineering courses are in the second category of popularity and offered in more than 75% of colleges. Courses like Automobile engineering, Architecture, Civil Environmental Engineering, Petro Chemical Engineering, Computer Science & Systems Engineering, Electronics & Control Systems Engineering, Electronics & Communication Systems Engineering, Electronics & Telematics, Food processing Technology, Mechactronics, Mining Engineering, Mechanical Marine Engineering, Metallurgy & Material Technology, Naval Architecture, Printing Technology totalling 15 are less popular. Hence only one college offers each course. 5 Role of State Government, AICTE and Universities in the establishment of private Engineering Colleges in Andhra Pradesh7. 5.1 Role of state Government: 1. Issuance of NOC to the Trust or Registered Society, which is desirous of running self Financed Engineering Colleges. 2. Preparation of rules and regulations for admission to Engineering Colleges as per the norms lay down by AICTE. 3. Conducting of Entrance Exam. 4. Finalizing admissions to the extent of 80% (by EAMCET) and 20% by Management. 5. Decision about tuition fees. 6. General supervisory control to make sure that the Management does not violate the democratic principles and social values. 7 Dr. Khobragade N. T Sonita Saganeria and Jayant N. K., Impact of Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization on Technical Education in India, The Indian Journal of Technical Education, Vol.28, No.l, 2005, Sep. 26-Oct. 02. 16

5.2 Role of AICTE: AICTE plays a very important role in monitoring and developing Technical Education in our country. Its main aim is to see that our Engineering Graduates passing out from any University in India must be at par with their counterparts passing out from other Universities of the world. This will ensure their global acceptance. 1. All new proposals for starting self financed Engineering College are scrupulously scrutinized by AICTE with reference to the availability of land, financial position of the society, basic infrastructure development etc. 2. It has standardized the norms with reference to plot size, buildings, equipment, library, faculty etc. 3. All efforts of AICTE are geared towards making the college produce properly trained technical manpower. 4. Conducts periodic inspection. 5.3 Role of University: University plays a key role in affiliation of the colleges after checking the infrastructure and human resources. It plans and monitors the academic schedule. It also plays the following roles: 1. Granting of affiliation to the newly started engineering college after issuance of NOC by the Government. 2. Design of curriculum for the Degree courses. 3. Conducting examinations. 4. Framing cf rules for promotion of students to next higher class. 5. Issuance of Degree Certificates to those who satisfy all conditions of passing the necessary examinations. 6. Periodic inspections. 6 Present Status of Engineering Education in India: In the last few decades, the engineering profession has been changing dramatically and there has been a rapid expansion of engineering education in India There is a high level of demand for engineering education in the country as a result of increase in enrolments at the school level and rising aspirations of the middle class, who see engineering education as a means of upward social mobility and economic security. This demand has its roots both in 17

family values where education in science and technology has received considerable emphasis and in the expected high-income profile of engineering graduates relative to expected incomes from other higher education streams. The number of engineering institutions increased from 50 in the year 1950 to 157 by the year 1980 and to 1346 in 2005 and then tol525 by 2006. Further more, intake in institutions also increased significantly. Whereas in 1950, average intake per institution was 74 students, it increased to 180 students in 1980 and rose to 336 students in 2005 and to 1525 by 2006 as mentioned in table-1.78. Table -1.7 Growth of Degree Level Engineering Institutions up to the year 2006. Year No. of Institutions Students Intake Intake per Institution (Average) 1950 50 3700 74 1960 110 16000 145 1970 145 18200 125 1980 158 28500 180 1990 337 66600 198 2000 776 185758 240 2003 1208 359721 298 2004 1265 404800 320 2005 1346 452260 336 2006 1525 520891 342. Source: University News Vol. 43 No. 39 Sep. 26 - Oct. 02, 2005 and updated information. 6.1 Technical Education - The Emerging Opportunities, Challenges and Responses It is true that higher engineering education in India has advanced a large scale in the last 20 years has changed from elite education to popular education. However, there still exist many problems, especially in the face of the great opportunities and challenges, due to the integration of global economy and internationalization of education. India is becoming potential engineers cradle of the world in the following manner. (1) The rapid development of domestic and international industries has brought about great need for advanced talent which can be engaged in global economy. This has created good developing opportunities and great challenges for India s higher engineering education. On the 8 Powan Agarwal Engineering Education in India; Changing Global realities and responses. University news, Vol. 43, No.39,2005 Sep. 26 - Oct. 02. 18

other hand, international industries also need a large number of engineers, but the sources of engineering graduates from developed countries are far from enough. For example, in the world-famous Silicon Valley in America, engineers from India and other foreign countries almost account for 60% of all engineers working there. Some of them have done their graduation even undergraduation from American Institutes rather than having passed out solely from India s Institutes. (2) Large no of good engineering student resources are available in India as compared to developed countries. The developed countries are short of engineering students. In India, 33% college students are in engineering, while the proportion is 20% in Germany and 5% in USA. Thus, the large source of excellent engineering graduates has laid a solid foundation to the enhancement of engineering education in India (3) Engineering education in India has continuously improved in both scale and quality. Colleges of engineering have achieved outstanding results in terms of teaching, academic research, teacher quality, teaching facility and campus construction. Each year, over half a million students is enrolled in colleges of engineering. Compared with other countries, the number is rather huge. For example, in the year 2004, American Institutes passed out 75000 engineering graduates while Indian Institutes passed out 450000. Along with the further development of the integration of global economy, world industries constantly shift from developed countries to developing countries. The great needs demanded by world industries will offer large number of opportunities for India s higher engineering education. The large scale of engineering education and excellent student resource will make it possible for India to become a cradle of engineers in the world. Our country is facing internationalization and market orientation in the engineering education. To meet this challenge, there is a need for changing the engineering education system also. Several fundamental changes that have taken place in the recent past are globalization, the concept of sustainability, rapid advances in science and technology especially in the fields of Information Technology, Bio Technology, and Materials Technology, new processes for the development, utilization and expansion of knowledge. They have raised 19

questions of whether and to what extent the qualification, education and training, need to be tuned to master these new challenges and requirements. Challenges for the engineering education and the engineering professions have also arisen from technological and organizational change and the internationalization of business. The internationalization of business requires engineers of global standards. Engineering as a profession demands traditional attributes such as problem solving abilities, analytical skills, communication skills, interpersonal skills, decision-making skills etc. The new millennium imposes additional demands such as learning ability, yen for life long learning, ability to work in a team, creativity, innovation, integrating skills, ability to master knowledge from neighboring disciplines, commitment to sustainable development etc. In addition to this the International Engineer will be required to possess the following characteristics9. 1. International Outlook 2. Knowledge of foreign homogeneous cultures 3. Knowledge of standards, codes of different countries 4. Concern for local values, sensitivities and sensibility 5. Ability to work in multinational and international disciplinary teams 6. Exposure to commercial disciplines 7. Creativity and Innovations 8. Integrative skills 9. Commitment to sustainable development The globalization has added certain special features to our engineering education. 1. Brain Drain. 2. Accreditation initiatives 3. The ISO 9000 initiatives of Indian corporate sector 4. Timely programs with foreign universities 5. Bilateral in inter-governmental initiatives 6. Distance Employment Natarajan R., Technical Education current status and future directions ; Vol.3, ICFAI University Press, Hyderabad, 2005, P.153. 20

6.2 Problems faced by the Technical Educational Institutions in India: India. The following are the major problems faced by the Technical Educational Institutions in 1. Non-availability of adequate number of qualified teaching staff is a serious problem faced by many engineering colleges in India. The phenomenal growth of engineering institutions from 1597 has a serious implication for the viability, quality and credibility of Indian Technical Education System. With rapid growth in the number of Engineering Colleges, non-availability of adequate number of competent faculty has created crises of management to illustrate: Graduates from premier institutions like HTs, NTTs prefer jobs in multinational software companies,, good manufacturing and service providing organizations. In HTs 53% of UG Students had secured campus recruitment in 2003 and this rose to 70% and the remainder goes to abroad. For them, teaching is the least preferred profession. This culture has spread to the Government and good private college graduates also. The pay scales and career growth are better in the preferred sector than in the teaching profession. Due to the boom in the software sector, almost all students of various branches with reasonable technical and soft skills are able to get jobs in this sector in their final year itself through the campus placements in many institutions. Among the left out students, the majority are opting for 6 to 12 months training in the specialized software line and are getting selected to good jobs. Hence the first option for engineering graduates is a software job. The students with less calibre are choosing teaching jobs as a stopgap arrangement in their career. The pay scales structure and career advancement is less in the teaching line, when compared to the software jobs. Moreover some of the private colleges are not even offering salaries at a par with the AICTE scales. Hence the engineering graduates from ill-equipped colleges and the less calibred prefer teaching jobs. These people are appointed as lecturers at the junior level. Even these lecturers do not concentrate on their teaching profession in the initial stage of two or three years of their career, because of their preference for the software sector. They try for jobs in the software sector two or three years after their joining in the 21

teaching profession. Those who are unable to succeed in getting software jobs stay back. This factor is affecting the quality of teaching in engineering colleges. The non-availability of faculty is more in the case of IT and Electronics branches than the traditional branches like Mechanical and Civil. About 60% of the seats are in IT and Electronics courses out of the total engineering colleges intake. This explains the shortage of faculty in the engineering colleges. As per the norms of AICTE the desired teacher student ratio is 1:15 and a complement of 1: 2: 4 ratios of Professors to Associate Professors to Lecturers. Most of the colleges are maintaining teaching staff ratio less than this. The total faculty requirement as per the report of the board of faculty of development of AICTE (March 2004) the total faculty requirement for 36 million intake is 95924, comprising 13703 professors and 27407 associate professors (requiring as many PhDs) and 54814 lecturers. The shortfall is nearly 26000 PhDs and 30000 M.Techs. However, the turnover is just around 8000 for PG engineering education and 375 PhDs. From these figures it is conclusive that AICTE has failed in the own norms and standards. At one point of time, AICTE has reduced the intake by 25335 and not allowed seven institutions in to come up where the shortage of faculty is more than 50%. This highlights the shortage of staff. To fulfil this gap of staff to student ratio, the private engineering colleges are started appointing retired aged professors and lecturers from other institutions by recycling. The retired lecturers from the polytechnic colleges are also offered jobs in some of the private colleges. At one end are the fresher, who have poor calibre and at the other end recycled staff, who have no vision of the 21st century and no interest in research or any perception of technology enabled education. The lack of vigour and vision that is necessary to prepare the students for the competitive environment is affecting, the quality of teaching. 2. The technical environment in India with its models and mechanisms is not conducive to the nurturing of talented and creative engineers who would other wise give a boost to R &D. There is still a wide gap between India and developed countries in this respect Most teachers engaged in engineering education in India lack practical work experiences in industry, while professors in colleges of engineering in developed countries usually have industrial 22

background. For example, in Germany, a teacher engaged in engineering education must have practical work experience in industry, and a professor is required to have at least 10 years of work experience in industrial sector. On the contrary, few engineering teachers in India are technical experts, and were senior managerial personnel in enterprises. Although universal specialty settings, teaching materials and teaching programs are useful to maintain a uniform teaching standard, they prevent teachers from giving full scope to their creativity, thus confining the fostering of student s creative ability. The gap between higher engineering education and industries is a universal phenomenon in India, and sometimes, rather serious. 3. Education environment for international engineers, who can work in international enterprises anywhere in the world, are lacking in India. There is a wide gap between the level of India s higher engineering education and that of developed countries, especially in respect of Institute-Industry cooperation and internationalization of education. Only 10% of Indian graduates in engineering are capable of working in multi-national companies, which can reach 25% through internationalization of education involving not only foreign language environment but also such links as international Institute-Industry cooperation, academic program settings, better teaching materials and methods as well as quality assurance system. There is still a long way to go for India s engineering education to realize the goal of training a great number of talents for industries at international level. Investigation shows that among the 200 million engineers in India, only about 160000 are suitable for the work requirements of multinational companies, a number that is equivalent to the total number of engineers in the UK. 4. The lack of close association between higher engineering education and industries is an important factor that constrains the quality of engineering talent training. As students have got no access to academic knowledge-related practical work, Enterprises often complain that graduates in engineering are rigid in thought and weak in operational skills, which makes it difficult to the former to get talents they are seeking. On the other hand, graduates in engineering are under great pressure of lacking of employment and complain that there are few jobs suitable for them. It is a fact that practical work is not available to them on the campus which leads to their poor practical experience. This situation is pronounced especially when foreign companies recruit engineering graduates. Only 10% of graduates searching for jobs in foreign companies are hired at last There is a need to receive a great deal of pre-job 23

professional training. It is therefore extremely urgent to strengthen the cooperation between India s engineering education and industries. 5. Lack of infrastructure facilities is one of the major problems in India. Presently nearly 85% of intake in undergraduate and graduate programs in engineering is in the private institutions. This is steadily rising and in some states like Tamil Nadu it has reached 95%. Among them 20% of the seats are under management quota. Most of these institutions are family-managed and controlled. A large part of the fee collected by them is unaccounted for and not ploughed back for the development of the institution. Most of the institutions have 4 or 5 branches with the intake limited to 300 students, leading to diseconomies of scales of operation by many colleges. The income of Such Colleges is mostly spent on the salaries and fixed administrative expenses. This causes financial problems to institutions and leads to lack of infrastructure facilities like laboratories and buildings. Even if buildings and laboratories are present in many colleges they are not of adequate size and standards as per AICTE norms. The graduates from such institutions are not able to meet the requirement of the industries due to improper exposure to practical skills. 6. Insufficient or lack of institute industry interaction is another problem faced by the engineering institutions in India. Most of the engineering educational institutions (EEIs) are unable to understand the rapid changes which are taking place in the industrial world and are not adopting the curriculum to produce graduates who have the basic technical skills based on the need of the hour to succeed in a highly competitive environment through effective industry institute interaction. Most of the EEIs are affiliated to local or one technical university in their respective States. With this, they give preference to the university curriculum and examinations. The EEIs concentrate more on results to satisfy the students and their parents. They are unable to concentrate much on the industry institute interaction and R & D activities, with the limited resources and scope they have. In most of the cases, there is a mismatch between the requirement of industry and the skills of the engineering graduates. The industry requires students who are able to use their theoretical knowledge to solve the practical problems of the industries. Moreover, the engineering graduates should possess soft skills to become readily employable. 24

This will be possible only by understanding the needs of the industry by the institute with proper interaction. For this the institute should be ready to spend some money and resources. At the same time, the students should be ready to involve themselves in getting trained in the industries during their vacations. The lack of proper infrastructure facilities in many institutions which are required to solve the practical problems of the local industries leads less enthusiasm among the industries for interaction. At the same time, the industrialists feel that by sending their employees to the institutes, they are not able to gain much; this is another reason for improper industry institute interaction. 7. Funds are limited in the engineering institutions. About 90% of institutions are self financing private institutions. Hence they are dependent up on the fees paid by the students for their financial needs. The present fee structure in AP is Rs.26,000/- per student per year and is not sufficient to pay the salaries and to maintain proper infrastructure facilities according to national or international standards or AICTE norms. Raising of fees is one way for generating more funds, which is normally objected to most of the parents. Hence, the institutions have to look for other avenues for raising funds or decreasing other expenses. 25